Classics Commons^™

Evaluating The Safety And Efficacy Of Classical Greek And Roman Treatments Compared To Modern Treatment, Morgan A. Wynes

Senior Honors Projects

Classical Greek and Roman civilizations survived for centuries and have greatly influenced the civilizations that have succeeded them. The treatments of diseases of both civilizations changed over time as physicians and philosophers such as Hippocrates and Galen developed a better understanding of the human body. Some of the treatments for disease used in ancient Greece and Rome remain in use today.

This project was designed to assess the safety and efficacy of classical Greek and Roman medicinal treatments and compare them to modern day treatments. The first step of the project was to identify classical diseases with telltale symptoms that …

The Uses And Abuses Of Hellenism By The Diadochi And Their Successors, Andrew Kennedy

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper examines the means by which the Successors to Alexander the Great, known as the Diadochi, fostered and encouraged the growth of Hellenism within their empires. Using this foundation, it goes on to argue that the Diadochi consciously encouraged this growth to help consolidate their unstable regimes and expand their power. The basis for this analysis is largely in academic texts regarding the Hellenistic world and Ancient sources such as Herodotus, Josephus, and Polybius. The investigation itself looks at four elements of the Hellenistic world that best exemplify the Successors’ relationship with Hellenism: Religion, Politics, War, and Cities. Each …

Roman Propaganda In The Age Of Augustus, Alex Pollok

Senior Theses

This paper is an examination of the methods and utilizations of propaganda in the Late Republic/Early Imperial period of Ancient Rome. The focus is on the propaganda of Augustus Caesar whose rulership ushered in the era referred to as the Pax Romana or Roman Peace. Augustus created a mythical image of himself that served as inspiration for future emperors. This image and its influence on future Romans is also examined. Today, we have film and/or television acting as the primary focal point for propaganda. In ancient Rome, the primary methods were literature, statues, monuments, and coins (though these are still …

Dreams, Visions, And Their Interpretation In Lucan’S Pharsalia, David Harris

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an analysis of the dreams in Lucan's poem Pharsalia (De Bello Civili; Bellum Civile) at the intersection of epic and historiography. I focus primarily on the dream and vision scenes of the two main characters, Caesar and Pompey: Caesar’s vision of Roma (1.183–227), Pompey’s dream of Julia (3.1–45), Pompey’s dream of his theater before the battle of Pharsalus (7.7–27), and Caesar’s dream of dead spirits after the battle (7.771–96). I take as background the epic and philosophical frameworks by which dreams were understood in antiquity. I conclude that a characteristic feature of Lucan's epic …

Virgil's Aeneid: Subversive Interpretation In The Commissioned Epic, Nicole Moore

Conspectus Borealis

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Roman Politics On The Imperial Cult Ad 69-193, Elena W. Hin

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

The imperial cult, defined as worship of dead emperors deified by the Senate and worship of the guiding emperor’s spirit, was ubiquitous throughout the Roman empire and provinces from the Flavian to Antonine dynasties (AD 69-180). It served as a method to unify the provinces to each other and the emperor himself, and strengthened political power. The connection between the imperial cult and the Roman politics is seen in the changes occurring within the empire and subsequent changes within worship. The imperial cult served as a reflection of the Roman empire’s political environment, and its provincial differences illustrate the change …

The Position Of Freedmen In Roman Society, Cory R. Dibacco

MAD-RUSH Undergraduate Research Conference

The Position of Freedmen in Roman Society

By Cory DiBacco, Undergraduate History Major, James Madison University

This research investigates the methods of integration into Roman society by freedmen and how their positions in the public were met with significant countervailing tension because of the macula servitutis, or stain of slavery. This paper analyzes the examples and ways in which freedmen overcame the macula servitutis and disapproving perspectives regarding manumission to become respectable members of society. The research for this analysis relies on excellent historical monographs and primary sources of freedmen epitaphs, the writings of Cicero, Pliny, and many other …

The Sovereign Ideal: Views Of Rome In Athenian Inscriptions, Connor Q. North

Classical Mediterranean and Middle East Honors Projects

This research examines the effect of discourse on the relationship between the ancient Roman and Athenian states through an analysis of each culture’s treatment of the most significant terms in that exchange. Athenian inscriptions frequently describe Romans and their Republic as friends and allies. Previous research has often dismissed these terms as euphemistic due to the difficulty of reconciling their equitable connotations with the highly asymmetrical power of Rome; however, this research argues on the basis of (IR) Constructivism that discourse played a constitutive role in ancient politics. It concludes that the Athenians’ handling of this discourse had a …

The Edict Of Milan And The Early Roots Of Christianity In The Roman Empire, Christopher J. Chow

Young Historians Conference

With the Christian religion becoming so widely accepted and dominant today in the Western world, it is easy to forget the journey that the religion went through to reach its current state. It was once a heavily persecuted religion, yet it took the Roman Empire by storm and became the backbone to the Catholic Church. Christianity's spread was no accident. This paper will examine some of the factors regarding Christianity's early roots to identify what led up to its success in a heavily dominated Pagan culture.

Athenian Women Through The Eyes Of Sophocles (But Not Oedipus), Isabel C. Pereira

Young Historians Conference

Ancient Greece was known for its achievements in democracy, new technologies, and, above all, artistic expression. The works of poets and playwrights in this time period not only reflected the culture and society, but also impacted it. Sophocles, arguably one of the most well-known playwrights in Greece in the 5th century BCE, wrote pieces that provide us with a strong commentary on what life was like for the people of Greece, particularly highlighting the roles that women played in society or were expected to play. This paper focuses on the lives of women in ancient Athens, one of Greece’s most …

The Influence Of Hellenism On The Literary Style Of 1 And 2 Maccabees, Dimitra S. Fellman

Young Historians Conference

The Jewish people living within Hellenistic Greece experienced great freedoms, and many assimilated into the non-Jewish societies around them. Yet, under the Seleucid King Antiochus IV in the 2nd century BCE, the Jewish people experienced oppression and persecution, which has been chronicled in the books 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. At a glance, these books appear opposed to the blending of Hellenistic culture and society into surrounding Jewish communities, but a deeper analysis of both texts reveals that the authors depended on Hellenistic constructs to effectively tell their story. This paper explores the degree to which the authors of 1 …

The Notion Of Madness In Literature, Philosophy, And Tragedy: Evolving Conceptions Of Mental Illness In Athens, David Z. Bartolome

Young Historians Conference

It is a basic understanding of modern medicine that mental illness is a disorder of the mind. But from where did this notion originate? In Homer’s popular epics, mental afflictions such as madness and depression are described as divine punishments rather than true mental illness. By the Hellenistic Age, Greek medical journals show a rejection of this divine explanation in favor of the mind. What changed in Greece? This paper tracks the Greek's understanding and conceptualization of madness throughout history and unites disciplines of literature, politics, tragedy, and philosophy to argue that modern understanding of mental illness has its earliest …

Sappho's Queer Female History, Tess M. Waxman

Young Historians Conference

Sappho was a queer woman in ancient Greece. Scholars have researched her sexuality, promiscuity, and sexual orientation, often instead of analyzing her works. Sappho’s poetry provides historians a rare view into the lives of queer women in ancient Greece, shaping the largely untold female LGBTQ history. She introduces a unique viewpoint; she brings complex ideas, such as the justice of Aphrodite, active versus passive lover roles, and erotic culture. Sappho’s distinctly queer poetry is important to explore in an attempt to better understand the past of more people.

Trimalchio In The Windy City: The Next Concept Of Roman Dining, Mike Lippman, Laura Gawlinski

Classical Studies: Faculty Publications and Other Works

An exploration of Roman Dining and its origins in literature. Authors Mike Lippman and Laura Gawlinski discuss a Chicago chef's methods for recapturing these ancient dishes.

Quantitative Criticism Of Literary Relationships, Joseph P. Dexter, Theodore Katz, Nilesh Tripuraneni, Tathagata Dasgupta, Ajay Kannan, James Brofos, Jorge A. Bonilla Lopez, Lea Schroeder

Dartmouth Scholarship

Authors often convey meaning by referring to or imitating prior works of literature, a process that creates complex networks of literary relationships (“intertextuality”) and contributes to cultural evolution. In this paper, we use techniques from stylometry and machine learning to address subjective literary critical questions about Latin literature, a corpus marked by an extraordinary concentration of intertextuality. Our work, which we term “quantitative criticism,” focuses on case studies involving two influential Roman authors, the playwright Seneca and the historian Livy. We find that four plays related to but distinct from Seneca’s main writings are differentiated from the rest of the …

How To Attain Liberation From A False World? The Gnostic Myth Of Sophia In Dark City (1998), Fryderyk Kwiatkowski

Journal of Religion & Film

In the second half of the 20th century, a fascinating revival of ancient Gnostic ideas in American popular culture could be observed. One of the major streams through which Gnostic ideas are transmitted is Hollywood cinema. Many works that emerged at the end of 1990s can be viewed through the ideas of ancient Gnostic systems: The Truman Show (1998), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), The Others (2001), Vanilla Sky (2001) or The Matrix trilogy (1999-2003).

In this article, the author analyses Dark City (1998) and demonstrates that the story depicted in the film is heavily indebted to the Gnostic myth of …

Panji's Present Predicament: The Artistic Prominence And Tension Of The Malat In Painting And Contemporary Balinese Performance, Emily Austin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Malat is a Balinese oral tradition and text composed of numerous episodic stories based on Javanese and Balinese courtly life of the pre-Dutch intervention era, when kings and princes dominated the political sphere and the court system governed aspects of social life. Many art forms blossomed out of this epic, notably in painting and in performance, known as gambuh. Through an exploration of the Balinese epic, the Malat, as a Balinese text, history, fine art, and performance, this study analyzes the modern cultural importance of this ancient pre-Indonesian courtly epic. Gambuh is an ancient dance-drama that serves as the …

Eng 200: A Heroine In Her Own Right: A Character Analysis Of Penelope In The Penelopiad, Ar’Meishia Burrow

English 100-200-300 Conference

No abstract provided.

The Origins And Identity Of Roman Mithraism, Charles R. Hill

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

This thesis is a reassessment of scholarship concerning the origins of the cult mysteries of Mithraism in its Roman form during the Imperial Period. While much has been published in the debate over the cult’s true origins, we are still left without a satisfactory answer. The present work is an attempt to reconcile some of the arguments posed in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries with those of the later 20^th and 21^st centuries, focusing mostly on the cult’s art and iconography in Mithraea, the central spaces of Mithraic worship. First will be a summary of …

Friends Of Musselman Library Newsletter Spring 2017, Musselman Library

Friends of Musselman Library Newsletter

From the Dean (Robin Wagner)

Library News

• "You do not have a minute to lose!"
• New Homes for Old Books
• Wikipedia Edit-a-thon (Melanie Fernandes '16)
• Share a Table (Sarah Nelson '17)
• A Note of Sadness (Jay P. Brown '51)
• Not Lost in Translation

Half a Million Downloads from The Cupola! (Janelle Wertzberger)

Revisit The Mercury

Mercury Stories of Note (Jerry Spinelli '63)

More Early College Publications Online

The Spectrum of Art

First German Print of the Declaration of Independence (Daniel DeNicola)

Hidden Beneath: Watermarks in the Early American Document Collection (Tyler Black '17)

Archaeological Students Dig Special Collections

Research Reflections …